The vast majority of us have grown up in churches or denominations where we have been taught how to live the Christian life by following outer precepts, rules, laws and ordinances. We have been told that if we are to grow spiritually we have to pray more, read the Bible more often and participate in a vast variety of the church’ activities. The message which has been hammered into our heads is that we somehow are responsible to live the Christian life. The law points its finger at you and says you have to do it, but as we all know it won’t lift a finger to help us in accomplishing its biddings.

This, my friend, means that the government has been laid on your shoulders. It is tempting to blame our leaders or the churches for this predicament we are in on account of that this burden it too heavy for us. The record relates that is was Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt. If we keep in the back of our minds that Moses represents the Law we come to understand that God purposely employs the Law in order to lead man out of Sin, which is Egypt. As Moses we have tried to conquer sin in our own powers. When we thought we had killed the Egyptian a host of others began their pursuit of us. We swiftly recognize that sin will easily overpower us if we do not flee into a safer environment.

Led by the law, that is, a conviction of sin we follow the law (Moses) through the Red Sea into Jesus. Behind us lies the Egyptian army drowned by the water. The power of Christ which far supersedes the power of sin has set us free from sin, that is, Egypt, or Satan if you will. The different sins which reigned in our members represented by the members of the army are conquered by Christ. They no longer have any dominion over us. But, where does Moses lead us? Into the wilderness! The law has fulfilled part one of its mission, and from now on we are directly led by God, by a cloud during the day and all night by a pillar of fire. Off course God was in the law as well, but we didn’t see Him. The scriptures plainly confirm that the law was our taskmaster to bring us unto Christ (Gal 3:24).

Here we are rescued by God, but what does He do? He leads us into a desert of dead works. Moses, that is, the law is still in our midst while we are led towards the Promised Land. As our uncontested leader Moses walk with us while we struggle towards a destination which seems rather dim. In the midst of our travails God is faithful and sustain us through many miracles. During the weary march we discover that something new is inside us. A new life, a new love and completely new interests begin to color our lives. What is going on? God is molding and conditioning us towards entering the Promised Land into which Moses (the law) is denied access. However, before we can enter there is one thing which is absolutely necessary. We have to transfer the government which was on our shoulders to Christ, for the government shall be upon His shoulders (Isa 9:6).

This is indeed a critical moment for us. If we despite the conditioning harden our hearts and recalcitrantly refuse to transfer the government we are destined to continue the wilderness walk, and Christ is impeded from being formed in us. This false self which came to be our only point of reference after the fall refuses to admit that it is a falsehood. To enter the Promised Land denotes that slowly but surely the union life or exchanged life becomes our new point of reference. In the wilderness all we could see was separation. The illusion that we have the government on our shoulders is what the Bible calls the flesh. To walk after the Spirit is simply to have transferred the government to Christ.

All these shadows or images point to a continuous expansion of our consciousnesses. It is in God that we move, live and have our being, so we have been in Him from the outset, even when we were in Egypt. We were in Christ even when in the wilderness. However, it is when we cross the threshold to the Promised Land that the tremendous fact that we are joined one Spirit with the Lord is revealed to us and becomes our rest. It is by faith and by an expansion of our consciousnesses that we move into Christ – we move into the Sabbath, our day of rest. He is our undeniable rest, because the government shall be on His shoulders.

In this place of infinite joy, freedom and love we adamantly refuse to let anyone cage us in again by a set of rules or laws, or manipulations or other suppression technics. With the wisdom of the Lord we will oppose those who have hardened their hearts, and as a consequence call us fanatics. With His love that is poured into our hearts we will patiently and love-kindly lead those who are on the threshold into the Promised Land. As the Spirit leads we will comfort, extort and teach them, and more than once we will invigorate their faith. Shoulder to shoulder we will defend our faith by words the Spirit gives us. The truth is: We are the lights of this world manifesting the pearl of great price!

It is such a relief to transfer the government to his shoulders. It is my heart’s desire but for so long I thought it was my duty to carry such heavy burdens…and I guess it was good because they crushed me! God has/is making me a true knower.

Hi Ole, I picked this up on Nancy’s. How neat. I really like the steady, measured feel of this, with a sense of reflection and purposed keeping the government on his shoulders. I especially like the last paragraph: “refuse to let anyone cage us in again by a set of rules or laws, or manipulations or other suppression technics.” HOw perfectly Galatian!!! Brian

Thank you, Brian! Blessings to you! Galatians is one of my favorite letters. I am not sure how to put this but I somehow got the message the evening before I wrote it when the words “The government shall be on his shoulders” repeatedly came to my mind. As I meditated on the words a profound relief washed over me.

The amazing thing is, that the morning before reading your blog, my husband and I were remembering a picture and scripture the Lord gave us in April regarding our family. The picture was of our family (dad, mom and three daughters) coming up out of a wilderness to a river crossing. We were left with the decision: cross or stay in the wilderness? This came with a number of scriptures out of Exodus and Isaiah.
Then, following an introduction by Teresa to your blog, I find it is called “crossing the river”! Then I proceed to read “the government shall be on His shoulders” with the reference to the wilderness, and Christ being our rest on the other side! How I had wondered about the river crossing! In reading, it all became so clear to me.
I have only recently come to the revelation of His life in me. How wonderful, glorious and awesomely AMAZING our beautiful Saviour is! He not only had His plan in place before the foundation of the earth – He makes it all come together throughout our lives, to His glory. Preparing me in April for what was to take place in my soul 6 months later is simply mindblowing!
So yes. He renders me speechless. Often. Which is confusing for those who know me 🙂
I love the way He writes through you. Such a blessing. Thank you.

The government of God – the principles of the Kingdom of heaven was on the shoulders of Christ. This is the government of love that He should come to earth live among sinners and die. This is the foundation of God’s government that NEVER changes that our Lord brought with Him to show us the glory of the Father. We never had this to carry. The “works” of the Hebrews were just God’s “show and tell” to point His people to the love of God that He was to demonstrate in the sacrifice of Christ. His government and the principles have never changed. He has just shown us GREAT mercy through His sacrcifice. Hallelujah!!!!!!!

Are you spiritualizing Is 9:6? My understanding of the scriptures is this will occur during the 1000 year reign here on earth when Jesus sets up his kingdom to rule the world. And David will be his vice regent. The Church will have been raptured just prior to the beginning of the 7 year tribulation period. Christ’s second coming immediately follows the tribulation period and this is when he establishes his earthly kingdom. Am I wrong? Thanks

15 years ago I was very preoccupied with the end times – the 7 year tribulation and so on. I read several books on the subject but didn’t get much wiser. Today these things are of no importance to me, as it were. I actually never give them any thought. I only know I have been through many tribulation periods which all have resulted in a deeper understanding of the things of God, stronger faith, deeper peace and an expanded awareness of that the government is truly on His shoulders.

We Live in Romans 8

To put it briefly, Romans 7 is not the chapter in which the believer lives. We live indwelt By Christ in Romans 8. Romans 7 is when we forget that Christ lives in us, and we try to live – to fulfill the law – by our own strength. But independent self is sin, therefore the moment we forget the indwelling Christ, and try to live by independent self, sin is at work in us, and we are under its dominion. Therefore the point to remember is that as that chapter tells us, we are dead to the law; that means we are not independent people trying to fulfill God’s law. We are new people, with the Law-Giver living in us, Christ Himself. We only enter the bondage of Romans 7, when we forget that fact and we must learn to turn quickly by the cleansing blood to our abiding place in Romans 8.
(Norman Grubb)

Norman Grubb

Unforced rhythms of grace

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
(Matt 11:28-30, The Message)